(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a blower pipe, a blowing device, and an image forming apparatus.
(ii) Related Art
In image forming apparatuses that form an image constituted by a developer on recording paper, for example, there is an image forming apparatus using a corona discharger that performs corona discharge in the process of charging a latent image holding member, such as a photoreceptor or the process of neutralization, the process of transferring a non-fixed image to the recording paper, or the like.
Additionally, in the corona discharger, in order to prevent unnecessary substances, such as paper debris or a discharge product, from adhering to component parts, such as a discharge wire or a grid electrode, a blowing device that blows air against the component parts may be provided together. The blowing device in this case is generally constituted by a blower that sends air, and a duct (blower pipe) that guides and sends out the air sent from the blower up to a target structure, such as a corona discharger.
In the related art, improvements for enabling air to be uniformly blown in the longitudinal direction of the component parts, such as a discharge wire, are variously performed on the blowing device or the like. Particularly, as such a blowing device or the like, there is proposed a blowing device that does not adopt a configuration in which the shape of a passage space of a duct through which air is caused to flow is formed in a special shape or a configuration in which a straightening vane or the like that adjusts the direction in which air flows is installed in the passage space of the duct, but adopts a separate configuration as illustrated below.